


Through Sickness and In Health

by injunoir



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mentioned Lucas, One Shot, Some fluff if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 02:35:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18459701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/injunoir/pseuds/injunoir
Summary: they loved each other more than anyone could imagine. and they swore to be with each other through sickness and in health, till death do them part.





	Through Sickness and In Health

**Author's Note:**

> so, i came up with this while i was sleeping and i'm glad my brain decided to finally give me an idea especially since i've been wanting to write angst. not as good but i hope you enjoy

mark lee and lee donghyuck. they were the two boys who'd grown up together and eventually fell in love with each other. they were the boys who didn't care what everyone else thought and married each other at the playground when they were only nine years old with their friend lucas being the one who married them.

they did everything together. they were each other’s first kiss to ‘get it over with' (everyone knows it was actually an excuse to kiss each other), they also experienced with each other when they were bi-curious. basically, they were each other’s gay awakenings even if donghyuck kept insisting it was actually lee taemin.

the two boys got in trouble together, stood up for each other, saved each other, laughed, smiled and cried together. anyone and everyone knew about _markhyuck._ about mark lee and lee donghyuck.

if you were to ask mark when he realized he was in love with his best friend, he'd most likely say it was when donghyuck got into a fight with a senior while they were freshman because he was getting bullied. he realized while he was sitting with the boy in the nurse’s office that, _“wow i love him.”_

if you asked donghyuck, he would say when they shared their first kiss with each other. he'd already been harboring unknown feelings for mark and he wanted to know that if he kissed mark lee, would he want to keep doing it. _he did._

they both never kept secrets from each other. they knew all there was to know of the other and probably knew the other more than they knew themselves.

but lee donghyuck broke the promise six year old him made to seven year old mark lee when he turned seventeen. _he kept a secret._

lee donghyuck was diagnosed with a rare illness. an illness that would leave a broken heart. an illness that was only meant to be a fever but turned out to be way more than that.

he was prescribed medication and a personal nurse to aid him. yet, he told mark the aid was there to study whether or not school took a high toll on mental health for research rather than the truth.

mark did know donghyuck had gone to the hospital for a fever, but he didn't know the truth of the results.

he hadn't noticed the pill bottle on donghyuck’s drawer, or the way his parents stared longingly at donghyuck with shining eyes, he never noticed how his own parents’ demeanor changed when he mentioned donghyuck or talked about him.

even after the two boys confessed to each other and began dating first year of college, mark knew nothing. not after they moved in together or when donghyuck passed out during one of his classes.

he did notice the boy getting weaker, the boy’s meds that he called ‘vitamins’, the fact that he changed his morning classes to the afternoon and started slowly going less and less. when donghyuck dropped out. when the hospital visits became more frequent.

he hated seeing his best friend and lover in pain. donghyuck didn't smile the same way anymore. his eyes weren't as bright but rather more dull instead. and mark asked him.

he finally asked him after so long of wondering and questioning.

he hadn't expected donghyuck to break down in front of him with a string of apologies leaving his mouth. he hadn't expected donghyuck to cling onto him so hard it left a bruise.

he was waiting for the _“oh nothing i've only struck a cold.”_ or maybe even _“i miss home. i miss my parents.”_

but he did not expect for donghyuck to say those words. those words that would change his life forever. those words that would take the sun from his bright world and instead leave him in darkness.

_“I’m dying.”_

things changed for them after that. donghyuck constantly doing his best to make up for the lying and mark making sure to be by his side more than he was before.

he went to the appointments with him, learned the truth about the aid from high school, and was there to comfort donghyuck when he began to live in the four walls that made his hospital room. but after much convincing, donghyuck was able to stay at home instead, getting a nurse to look after him once more.

by the time donghyuck had one week left, he wrote letters. one for mark, one for each of his parents, one for each of their six friends they met in high school and had been friends with since, and one for his nurse and doctor.

he also told his nurse that when the day arrived, he wanted to be alone. away from everyone and especially mark. he didn't want his lover to suffer beside him while he slipped away. and as much as his nurse disagreed and tried to convince him otherwise, he did as asked.

when mark returned from buying food and found no donghyuck, he'd began to panic. he searched each room in the house, the closets, bathrooms, everywhere. but no sign of donghyuck.

but he found the letter. the perfectly smooth, mint colored envelope with the words _‘to my love, from the beginning of time till the end’._ he refused to read it until he found him. he dialed the nurse’s number and the nurse immediately told him where they were.

mark had never gotten up and left his home as fast as he did. he had an uneasy feeling in his chest, his throat feeling tight as he neared the location, and eyes were brimming with tears.

once there, he found the nurse who gave him a tight lipped smile.

_“he wanted to be alone when it happened, didn't want you to hurt more than you had to. he's in the room with the stickers on the door.”_

mark rushes up the carpeted steps with tears blinding his sight. _he's in the room with the stickers on the door,_ he repeats in his mind. he searches frantically for the door once he reached the top of the steps. when he finds it he only stands in front of it, afraid of turning the handle to see the other in pain. his chest tightened and stomach churned at the thought. he finally takes a deep breath, putting his hand on the handle and he opens the door.

the room was dark, no light in the room except for the nightlight by the window. he sees a lump on the bed and as he nears it, he sees donghyuck’s face. his eyes are closed as his chest rose and dropped slowly. mark sniffles as he reaches the bed, sitting on the space beside the sleeping boy.

“hyuck,” he croaks out, “why? why did you want to be alone? i deserve to be here with you. this will be a dumb thing to say probably but you know when people get married they swear to love each other and be by each other till death. i'm supposed to be with you because yeah we're not married by law or whatever it is but remember how when we were kids we got married? with lucas as the pastor? it technically still works for us. we're supposed to be by each other in sickness and in health. look, hyuckie you shouldn't have done this...i know you didn't want me to be here with you but i need to be here. you know why? because i love you. i love you so so much and i'm going to be with you until you're last breath, i'm going to love you forever. it's going to hurt so much not waking up beside you, not hearing you're beautiful voice, not seeing your smile...hearing your laugh...but i'm still going to be with you. i know you'll be watching over me wherever you may go, and i know that in our next lifetime, we're bound to be together, too. i love you lee donghyuck, thank you for all of these years and for being my best friend and my companion. you changed my life for the better and i'll always be grateful for you. i'll never forget you.”

he breaks down as soon as he finishes and doesn't feel the hand that moves and interlocks with his.

“you shouldn't have come,” donghyuck heaved out, staring at his lover with sad eyes.

mark’s head snaps up at him and releases more tears, “you're right, i should've gone home and found you in bed. stayed with you and held you. i should be by your side hyuckie...you can't deny it. this is where i belong. here, beside you.”

donghyuck smiles, letting out a muffled sob, “did you read it?”

mark shakes his head, “no, i will after. not now, i'm where i need to be.”

“mark,” donghyuck begins, “i've loved you my whole life. i loved you as my best friend and i loved you as my lover. you're absolutely everything to me and i'm so happy to have had you with me the whole time i was here. you're the love of my life, mark lee, i never will stop loving you. nothing will change that. you're my world and i'm glad you came. i'm glad johnny told you i was here. i was wrong, i do need you to be with me and hold me. you're my home. my safe place.”

mark gets up from the edge of the bed and crawls over donghyuck, laying beside him while wrapping his arms around him. donghyuck turns his body to face mark and presses their foreheads together while keeping their gaze locked.

“thank you mark lee, for showing me friendship and what love is like. i'm sorry i have to leave you like this - or at all. if it were up to me, you'd be stuck by my side forever.”

“i know hyuck, i know. you know i'm always going to love you right? nothing will change that.”

“good. can't have someone else have my mark. but, i do want you to try, okay?”

mark lets out a shaky breath, “okay.”

the younger smiles, closing his eyes while sighing in contempt, “i love you mark lee, don't forget that.”

“i love you too, always.”

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/neofleur)


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